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IX. The Seventh Dominion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Norman Rose
Norman Rose
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
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Extract

As a result of the Great War, the Zionist movement came of age. For the first time since its inception as a political organization, Zionism gained a backer of international and worldwide repute. The political charter which Herzl had hawked around the chancelleries of Europe found its consummation in the Balfour Declaration. The British Empire, in its moment of supreme crisis, stamped its seal of approval on the concept of a Jewish National Home in Palestine.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 1971 , pp. 397 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

1 In the autumn of 1902, Joseph Chamberlain, then Colonial Secretary, raised the possibilities of Jewish settlement at El Arish in the north-eastern area of the Sinai peninsula. The viability of the project depended ultimately on diverting a sufficient quantity of water from the Nile for irrigation purposes. In the opinion of Lord Cromer, the British Agent in Cairo, a large enough supply could not be guaranteed and the scheme died a natural death. As a result Chamberlain made his Uganda offer. Once again the idea was rejected, this time because of the fierce opposition of the Russian Zionists who would accept no territory other than Palestine. It should be pointed out that Herzl envisaged East Africa as the only realistic place for an immediate settlement of persecuted East European Jewry. He hoped that this would be a first and temporary step—as his follower Max Nordau put it, a Nachtasyl—preparing the way for ultimate settlement in Palestine.

2 Dr Chaim Weizmann (1874–1952). Born in Motol in the Pale of Settlement, Russia. He came to Britain in 1904 and subsequently took out British citizenship. President of the World Zionist Organization, 1921–31, 1935–45; from 1929 he combined this office with that of President of the Jewish Agency; first President of Israel, 1948–52.

3 Weizmann, C., Trial and Error (London, illustrated ed., 1950), p. 253.Google Scholar

4 The Zionists have often been accused of ‘double-dealing’ on this question. See, for example, Sykes, C., Crossroads to Israel (London, 1965), pp. 23–5, although he modifies the accusation by writing ‘they were engaged on a venture without precedent in recorded history … [and that] Weizmann retrieved Jewish honour to some extent’. There is certainly some truth in this. But the real question is: whom were the Zionists deceiving? Not the British who were fully aware of the potential of their declaration; nor the Palestinian Arabs who, at the time, were not taken very seriously as a national entity. They were, it seems evident, setting the minds of the non-Zionist Jewish communities throughout the world at rest and attempting to relieve them of the onerous burden of dual loyalty.Google Scholar

5 Sir Wyndham Deedes (1883–1956): Chief Secretary to the Palestine administration 1920–3; a devoted Gentile Zionist.

6 W. [eizmann] A.frchives[, Rehovoth, Israel, Weizmann to Deedes, 12 Nov. 1921.

7 W.A., notes of a conversation held at Balfour's home on 22 July 1921. Originally quoted in Meinertzhagen, R., Middle East Diary, 1917–56 (London, 1959), pp. 103–5Google Scholar. None of the other participants in the discussion—Churchill, Sir Maurice Hankey and Weizmann—demurred from this comment. Meinertzhagen also quotes from a conversation with Balfour on 7 February 1918, where Balfour registers his personal hope ‘that the Jews will make good in Palestine and eventually found a Jewish state’, ibid. p. 9.

8 George, D. Lloyd, The Truth About the Peace Treaties, 11 (London, 1938), 1139. And The Report of the Palestine Royal Commission, Cmd. 5479 (July 1937), p. 24.Google Scholar

9 W.A., Weizmann to Deedes, 31 July 1921.

10 Colonel J. C. Wedgwood (1872–1942): Labour, previously Liberal, M.P., 1906–42; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1924. Cr. Baron, 1942.

11 Weizmann, p. 192.

12 Wedgwood, C. V., The Last of the Radicals (London, 1951), p. 182.Google Scholar

13 Ibid. p. 189.

14 Wedgwood, J. C., The Seventh Dominion (London, 1928), pp. 119–21.Google Scholar

15 Ibid. p. 123.

16 Ibid. p. ix.

17 Ibid. p. 33.

18 For further examples of this facet of his Zionism, see his speeches, Parliamentary Debates, Fifth Series (House of Commons), vol. CCXXVII, col. 1476, 30 Apr. 1929; and vol. CCLXIV, col. 1820, 22 Apr. 1932.

19 In this age when empires are being shattered under the accusations of injustice and lack of democracy, it might seem anomalous, even cynical, to incorporate such terms in the text. No such connotations should be construed. Wedgwood, and those who thought like him, genuinely and sincerely believed in the above concepts, and it is only in this sense that the contents of the paragraph should be interpreted.

20 J. C. Wedgwood, p. 3.

21 Ibid. p. 31.

22 Ibid. p. 33.

23 The Times, 2 Mar. 1928.

24 Manchester Guardian, 21 Mar. 1928. Wedgwood usually referred to the Arabs as ‘natives’.

25 The Observer, 22 July 1928.

26 A full report of the meeting may be found in the Jewish Chronicle, 1 Mar. 1929.

27 Jewish Chronicle, 15 Mar. 1929.

28 Parliamentary Debates (House of Commons), vol. ccxxvn, col. 1480, 30 Apr. 1929; during the debate on the colonial office vote.

29 Jewish Chronicle, 10 May 1929. The members were: Wedgwood (chairman), Kenworthy, Sir M. Conway, Hore Belisha, Sir R. Hamilton, Mrs P. Snowden, Mr J. Cowen and Mr M. Grossman.

30 Jewish Chronicle, 15 Feb. 1929.

31 The Revisionist Party was founded in 1925 by V. Jabotinsky, a gifted publicist and orator. The party stood on the right wing of Zionist politics.

32 Jewish Chronicle, 26 Oct. 1928.

33 Jewish Chronicle, 16 Nov. 1928.

34 Schechtman, J. B., Fighter and Prophet, The Vladimir Jabotinsky Story. The Last Years (London, 1961), p. 108.Google Scholar

35 Ibid. pp. 108–9.

36 Ibid. p. 109.

37 Jewish Chronicle, 2 Aug. 1929.

38 See The Final Draft of the Mandate, Cmd. 1500 (Aug. 1921).

39 Jewish Chronicle, 15 Feb. 1929.

40 L. S. Amery (1873–1955): First Lord of the Admiralty, 1922–3; Colonial Secretary, 1924–9; Dominions Secretary, 1925–9; Secretary of State for India, 1940–5.

41 Unsigned letter to Jabotinsky, , 13 Mar. 1929, Jabotinsky Institute, Tel Aviv.Google Scholar

42 See, for example, the text of a resolution submitted to a meeting of the English Zionist Federation, 28 Apr. 1929, F13/5611, C. [entral] Z. [ionist] A.[rchives], Jerusalem.

43 Chaim Arlosoroff (1900–33): political head of the Palestine Zionist Executive; assassinated in June 1933. See his article, ‘The Ninth Dominion’, The New Palestine (5 Apr. 1929). Arlosoroff named the article such for he believed that India and British East Africa would achieve Dominion status first.

44 For the similarity between this quotation and Weizmann's pronouncements on the ultimate aim of Zionism, see Trial and Error, pp. 302, 340, 417–19.

45 Manchester Guardian, 19 Oct. 1929.

46 Letter to The Times, 28 Aug. 1929.

47 The Times and Manchester Guardian, 19 Oct. 1929.

48 Sec The Shaw Report on the Disturbances of August 1929, Cmd. 3530 (Mar. 1930).

49 This document, generally acknowledged to have been damaging to the Zionists, led to the resignation of Weizmann and other Zionist leaders from office. The Jewish world rose in protest, and received effective backing from the Gentile Zionists in England. The Government, perhaps realizing it had gone too far, took the initiative and proposed a conference to iron out the differences of opinion. The result was the letter of 13 Feb. 1931, addressed by the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, to Weizmann, which interpreted the White Paper in a manner more favourable to the Zionists.

50 Letter to The Times, 30 Oct. 1930.

51 The U.S., not being a member of the League of Nations, had, after lengthy negotiations with Great Britain, signed a treaty on 3 December 1924, making the U.S. a signatory to the Palestine Mandate and providing for U.S. participation in all rights and benefits extended to member states of the League. The treaty was ratified on 5 December 1925.

52 This apparently was Wedgwood's view. See his interview in Jewish Chronicle, 15 Feb. 1929.

53 The Report of the Palestine Royal Commission, Cmd. 5479 (July 1937). Lord Peel acted as Chairman of the Commission. The Royal Commission was set up to investigate the causes of the disturbances that had broken out in Palestine in April 1936, and which were to continue intermittently until the outbreak of the Second World War.

54 Ibid. p. 368.

55 Palestine: a Statement of Policy by His Majesty's Government, Cmd. 5513 (July 1937).

56 See, for example, the leader in Great Britain and the East, 8 Oct. 1936.

57 Gurion, David Ben (1886—): chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency, 1935–1948; Prime Minister of Israel, 1948–53, 1955–63.Google Scholar

58 Jewish Chronicle, 15 Jan. 1937.

59 See, for example, his article in the Daily Herald, 9 July 1937. He wrote: ‘No Jew will accept partition as a just and rightful solution … The proposal of the Royal Commission … is to put a drastic limit to the possibilities of a Jewish return, and to condemn the rest of the country to stagnation and desolation.’

60 The promoters of the Association were a group of British and Dominion Jews. The chairman was Max Seligman, a Tel Aviv lawyer, born in Swansea.

61 Jewish Chronicle, 22 Jan. 1937.

62 Jewish Chronicle, 29 Oct. 1937.

63 The Crown Colony scheme did find one prominent adherent in Wedgwood.

64 W.A., Weizmann's evidence, in camera, before the Royal Commission, 23 Dec. 1936 and 8 Jan. 1937.

65 W.A., D.[ugdale] D.[iaries], 15 Mar. 1937.

66 A. Duff Cooper (1890–1954): Secretary of State for War, 1935–7; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1937–8 Minister of Information, 1940–1; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1941–3; British Ambassador to France, 1944–8. Cr. Viscount, 1952.

67 W.A., notes of an interview between Cooper, Duff and Weizmann, , 18 June 1937.Google Scholar

68 Jewish Chronicle, 9 Apr. and 7 May 1937.

69 See C.P.281(37), Cab.24/273, P.[ublic] R.[ecord]. [ffice], memorandum by Eden, , 19 Nov. 1937. And Cab.23/90, P.R.O., conclusions of the Cabinet, 8 Dec. 1937.Google Scholar

70 Henry Mond: industrialist and Zionist.

71 W.A., minutes of the meeting, 2 Nov. 1937.

72 S. Brodetsky: professor of applied mathematics at Leeds University; member of the executive of World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency.

73 L. Stein: barrister; political secretary to the World Zionist Organization, 1920–9; honorary legal adviser, 1929–39.

74 W. Ormsby Gore (1885–1964): first Commissioner of Works, 1931–6; Secretary of State for Colonies, 1936–8; succeeded his father as Lord Harlech, 1938.

75 Mrs Blanche E. C. Dugdale: Balfour's niece and biographer; Weizmann's close friend and adviser; the leading Gentile Zionist of her generation.

76 W.A., MrsDugdale, to Weizmann, , 3 Nov. 1937Google Scholar.

77 Apparently the views of Eden and Ormsby Gore were negative. At any rate I have been unable to discover any contemporary reports of Melchett speaking at the Foyle's luncheon on such a topic.

78 W.A.,MrsDugdale, to Weizmann, , 3 Nov. 1937Google Scholar.

79 Walter Elliot (1888–1958): Minister of Agriculture, 1932–6; Secretary of State for Scotland, 1936–8; Minister of Health, 1938–40.

80 Ibid.

81 W.A., D.D., 12 Nov. 1937.

82 Ibid.

83 These were: a corridor to the sea from Jerusalem to Jaffa, which would include the main lines of communication to the coast, the airport at Lydda, and the vast army supply camp at Sarafand; the four towns of Haifa, Acre, Safad and Tiberius (on Lake Tiberius there was an air staging post to the East): and the Akaba enclave. See Cmd. 5479, pp. 381, 384–6.

84 W.A., Melchett to Tweedsmuir, , 17 Nov. 1937.Google Scholar

85 L. Hore Belisha (1893–1957): Minister of Transport, 1934–7; Secretary of State for War, 1937–40; Minister of National Insurance, 1945.

86 The reference is to the Stone of Scone.

87 Tweedsmuir, W.A. to Melchett, , 30 Nov. 1937.Google Scholar

88 W.A., D.D., 8 Dec. 1937. Also Melchett, W.A. to Weizmann, , 7 Dec. 1937.Google Scholar

89 See Weizmann, W.A. to Kisch, F. H., 8 Dec. 1937; and to Sir O. d'Avigdor Goldsmid, 3 Feb. 1938.Google Scholar

90 In her letters to Weizmann Mrs Dugdale invariably used an alphabetic-type code in order to bamboozle the Palestine security forces.

91 W.A., MrsDugdale, to Weizmann, , 20 Dec. 1937.Google Scholar

92 W.A., D.D., 28 Dec. 1937.

93 Zionist Review (Jan. 1938).

94 Jewish Chronicle, 21 Jan. 1938; 250 votes were cast in favour of the motion, seven against.

95 Manchester Guardian, 16 Jan. 1938.

96 See files Z4/17043 and S25/7564, C.Z.A. Those interviewed were: Colonel R. Meinertzhagen; J. C. Wedgwood; Lady Snowden; Professor C. Webster; Sir A. Sinclair; L. S. Amery; H. Nicolson.

97 Jewish Chronicle, 11 Feb. 1938.

98 W.A., MrsDugdale, to Weizmann, , 20 Mar. 1938.Google Scholar

99 Jewish Chronicle, 1 Apr. 1938.

100 Lourie, W.A. to Weizmann, , 27 Mar. 1938.Google Scholar

101 The Palestine Partition Report, Cmd. 5854 (Oct. 1938). The Commission had arrived in Palestine in April 1938 to investigate and recommend boundaries for the proposed Jewish and Arab states.

102 Ibid. pp. 243, 246.

103 A Statement of Policy by His Majesty's Government Cmd. 5893 (Nov. 1938), p. 3.

104 see Palestine: A Statement of Policy, Cmd. 6019 (May 1939).

105 Parliamentary Debates (House of Commons), vol. CCCXLVII, col. 2002, 22 May 1939.

106 Weizmann, ‘Palestine's Role in the Solution of the Jewish Problem’, Foreign Affairs (Jan. 1942). P. 338.

107 W.A., memoranda submitted to the Anglo-American Commission on behalf of the Jewish Dominion of Palestine League, Jan. 1946.